Montreal Canadiens show signs of desperation

Coach Therrien toys with putting two ex-Sabres together in practice

NEW YORK — The Canadiens could hold an optional mid-season walk through a suburban shopping-mall parking lot and draw hundreds of fans.

So it was curious on Wednesday to see these playoff Habs holding their final home-ice practice of the … week! … in front of a few dozen spectators at the Bell Sports Complex in Brossard.

Bosses and teachers were probably scratching their heads, trying to figure out why there was excellent attendance at work and school with the Canadiens on the ice — free admission, open to the public.

As usual, I advised on early morning Twitter that fans should arrive at the rink early for best viewing. In fact, they could have arrived fashionably late and still got prime front-row viewing at the glass above the ice.

This is not in any way (is it?) to say that the Canadiens’ famously fickle fan base has run up the white flag on their heroes’ hopes against the New York Rangers. Maybe work and school really did outweigh calling in sick or cutting class.

Montreal Canadiens head coach Michel Therrien speaks to his players during the team’s practice in Brossard, Quebec. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz)

The Habs are not yet on life support. But the for-now faint beeping of their ICU monitor will sound considerably louder Thursday night should they not beat the Rangers at Madison Square Garden to halve the Blueshirts’ 2-0 Eastern final series lead.

Head coach Michel Therrien blended some interesting lines for the late-morning session, for which all hands were on deck save injured goaltender Carey Price. Of course, Therrien later told his news briefing that not too much should be read into his combinations.

Thomas Vanek, who on too many nights lately hasn’t been the offensive threat the Habs figured they had acquired at trade deadline, was rotating in and out of the fourth line with Michaël Bournival, flanking centre Daniel Briere with Brandon Prust on the other wing.

Maybe, it was suggested post-practice to Max Pacioretty, Therrien merely was trying to spread his offensively capable skaters around, and maybe this was a way of reuniting former Buffalo Sabres teammates Brière and Vanek.

Montreal Canadiens left wing Thomas Vanek takes part in the team’s practice in Brossard, Quebec. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz)

“Those two players have had a lot of success in this league, especially offensively, and they’ve played together and had success together in the past,” Pacioretty said, admitting the Sabres connection hadn’t occurred to him.

“That would probably be a dangerous line for us. This is a team game and we need everyone to contribute. The coaches feel we’ll get the best out of everyone. Obviously, we have to trust in that and go out there and just worry about what we can control.”

It’s not one or two potent lines, Pacioretty said, that will extricate the Canadiens from the hole in which they find themselves; one more loss, everyone knows, will dig the hole to an almost inescapable depth.

“Look at the teams that load up their top two lines in playoffs and they don’t have success,” he said. “The teams that are left are playing four lines, with four lines contributing. It’s nice to have huge numbers in the playoffs, but look at teams that are rolling right now and they’re the teams that have balanced scoring with everyone contributing. I don’t know what’s going to happen (with the Canadiens’ lineup for Game 3) but it’s nice to have four lines you can trust at any moment.”

(L-R) Thomas Vanek (Montreal Canadiens), Coach Michel Therrien (Montreal Canadiens), David Desharnais (Montreal Canadiens) and Max Pacioretty (Montreal Canadiens) during Game Two of the NHL Eastern Conference Finals between the Montreal Canadiens and the New York Rangers. (EPA/HELMUT FOHRINGER)

If all of Montreal is melting down with Vanek’s spotty production — he has five goals on his 22 shots in 13 playoff games, zero points in his last three — Pacioretty isn’t losing sleep over his former linemate’s scoring slump or his ability to break out of it.

“(Vanek) is a veteran. He’s been around the block, he’s had success,” Pacioretty said. “Guys like that have success by trusting their instincts, their teammates and the coaches.

“I’ve talked to (Vanek) a lot since he’s been here. A guy like that, I don’t think something like this really bothers him or affects him. I’m not worried about it at all.”

Still, it would be nice to get some offence from the career-productive, impending-unrestricted free agent who might wind up being a quickly forgotten ‘what-if? rental’ should he, as most believe, sign elsewhere on or after July 1.

The Canadiens were far from awful in Game 2, a 3-1 victory backstopped by Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist’s masterful 40-save performance.

Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers makes a save against the Montreal Canadiens during the second period in Game Two of the Eastern Conference Final during the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Bell Centre. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

There is no secret, Pacioretty said, to solving King Henrik, who played like royalty on Monday in a building where, on many nights, he’s looked more like a court jester.

“We have to take away his eyes and get second and third chances. No goalie can be great if he can’t see the puck,” Pacioretty said, which prompted at least one Rangers fan to suggest to me that the Canadiens are intending to poke Lundqvist’s eyes out.

Really.

“We have to find a way to make it difficult for (Lundqvist),” Pacioretty said. “We did a decent job of that (in Game 2) and obviously he played a great game. We have a big task now to take away his eyes and his confidence and we hope to do that this game.

“We did a good job of getting to the net. I can only talk for myself about that,” added Pacioretty, who had five shots on goal and had three more miss the target. “There were the rebounds there for us. We just weren’t able to put them away. We have to bear down on our chances.”

I reminded Pacioretty about his rumble with Lundqvist three years ago at the Bell Centre, the Rangers goalie losing his marbles when he was crunched by the Habs forward in a goalmouth collision.

Lundqvist came up swinging, throwing blocker haymakers at Pacioretty. The two earned coincidental minors for roughing, the latter earning an extra two for closing his hand on the puck.

“That’s standard, especially when you’re younger,” Pacioretty said of dog-piling goalies. “You don’t worry about running into people as much or what people are thinking about you. You’re just trying to make a name for yourself and get under people’s skin.”

The role is now played splendidly on the Canadiens by Brendan Gallagher, a stocky stick of dynamite.

If Pacioretty made Lundqvist loopy that night, he’s not promising a return engagement now with so much at stake.

“Ah, that was nothing. It was just a night at the office for Gally,” Pacioretty joked of his dance with the Rangers goalie.

Lundqvist, it seems, would from here on in be wise to keep his eyes open for anyone in a Canadiens jersey.